Latin America

By Ricardo Brito, Luciana Novaes Magalhaes and Manuela Andreoni
September 11, 20252:31 PM CDT Updated 2 hours ago

BRASILIA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was convicted by a Supreme Court majority on Thursday of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election, a powerful blow to the populist far-right movement he created.

The presumptive ruling by a majority of a panel of five justices in Brazil's Supreme Court makes Bolsonaro the first former president in the country's history to be convicted for attacking democracy.

"This criminal case is almost a meeting between Brazil and its past, its present, and its future," Justice Carmen Lucia said before she voted to convict Bolsonaro of attempting a coup, a reference to previous attempts to overthrow democracy in the country's history. There was ample evidence, she added, that Bolsonaro acted "with the purpose of eroding democracy and institutions."

. . .

The conviction of Bolsonaro, a former Army captain who never hid his admiration for the military dictatorship that killed hundreds of Brazilians between 1964 and 1985, echoes legal condemnations this year for far-right leaders elsewhere, including France's Marine Le Pen and the Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte.

More:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-bolsonaro-guilty-coup-charges-court-majority-decides-landmark-trial-2025-09-11/